Shattered Lives
Sexual Violence during the Rwandan Genocide and its AftermathHuman Rights Watch Report, September 1996

Impact of Violence on Women

Forum seeks action against Sangh outfitsTimes News Network, December 19, 2002
NEW DELHI: The International Initiative for Justice in Gujarat, a body consisting of several Indian women's groups and activists from abroad, have demanded that the state government restore to the Muslims their rights to life, security and survival as guaranteed by the Constitution.

The International Initiative for Justice in Gujarat - An Interim Report is available here.

Muslims have lost hopes of justice in Gujarat: Rights panelPress Trust of India, New Delhi, December 19, 2002A committee of international human rights activists on Thursday said the Muslim community in Gujarat was living under "increased fear" and have "lost all hopes of justice" after the "renewed strength" of the BJP following its victory in assembly elections in the state.

After being raped in riots, Gujarat women face police inactionPraveena Sharma, Malaysiakini.com, September 20, 2002AHMEDABAD, India — Months after communal mobs rampaged in India's western state of Gujarat, many women who were raped by the zealots have seen no action taken against their aggressors, with police unwilling to take their complaints seriously.

Gujarat's Gendered Violenceby Ruth Baldwin, Posted on September 16, 2002, The Nation (New York)Women's bodies were central battlegrounds in the worst bout of Hindu-Muslim bloodletting to grip India in over ten years, in the western Indian state of Gujarat beginning on February 27. After an enraged Muslim mob allegedly set a train packed with Hindus on fire in Godhra, killing fifty-eight, a wave of retaliatory violence was unleashed on the minority Muslim population in the region, leaving up to 2,000 dead and 100,000 homeless. Under the indulgent gaze of the state government, and against a backdrop of ransacked houses and desecrated temples, at least 250 women and girls were brutally gang-raped and burned alive.

Surviving on the Edge in GujaratBy Malini Ghose, The Times of India, August 15, 2002Four months ago, as a member of a women’s fact-finding team, I visited several camps in rural and urban Gujarat. I spoke to scores of women survivors and recorded their testimonies. The violence, the destruction, the despair, the horror slapped you in the face. You could not escape it.

Meeting on Gujarat Carnage and Womenby Indian Social Institue, New Delhi, July 26, 2002Indian Social Institute sent two-member-team to Gujarat and their report is ready. The scope of this report is limited only on women and it attempts to articulate how the women in Gujarat see their future.

Women's panel visits relief campsTimes News Network, July 04, 2002AHMEDABAD: An All-Party Women Empowerment Parliamentary Committee visited several relief camps in the city on Wednesday to inquire into the atrocities committed on women during the riots and to find out the steps taken for the rehabilitation of the riot-affected.

Rehab project for riot widows under wayRajiv Shah, Times News Network, June 22, 2002 AHMEDABAD: Nearly four months after the riots, life continues to be at a standstill for some, especially the women who have been widowed during the disturbances. According to provisional figures provided by Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), the riots have widowed over 238 women.

Gujarat and majority womenBy Nonica Datta, The Hindu, June 15th, 2002The participation of women activists in the movement in favour of Ram's temple in Ayodhya, and in Hindu right-wing organisations is an enduring legacy of the communalisation of Hindu women in colonial India.

Women's group flays inadequate riot rehabTimes News Network, June 10, 2002AHMEDABAD: A delegation of Delhi-based women's group Saheli, after visiting various relief camps in the city, alleged that the state government had done little to provide relief and rehabilitation of riot victims. The group also condemned the functioning of the women's cell set up by the government to look into the problems of women and children living in camps.

The Politics of Gender in the Politics of HateBy Anuradha M. Chenoy, Aman Ekta Manch Digest no 3, 4 June 2002
The politics of gender were integral in the making of a Hindutva militia that led and carried out the carnage throughout Gujarat State against the minority community. The use, abuse and control of women were a critical aspect of the pogroms conducted in Gujarat in March-April 2002.

Rapes Go Unpunished In Indian Mob Attacks Muslim Women Say Claims Are IgnoredBy Rama Lakshmi, Special to The Washington Post, June 3, 2002Three months ago, as religious riots engulfed the western Indian state of Gujarat, Sheikh saw her husband and several relatives burned alive. Then, she said, she was brutally raped by three men as her 4-year-old son wailed nearby.

Sheikh wants to see the criminals brought to justice. But Gujarat police are routinely refusing to file charges against individuals accused of rape during the violence in late February and early March, because they say mob violence cannot be broken down into specific crimes.

Investigation as collusion — IIBy Brinda Karat & Subhashini Ali, The Hindu, June 1, 2002You cannot commiserate with wounded and violated women and children...without exposing, condemning and bringing to justice those who are responsible.

Investigation as collusion — I By Brinda Karat & Subhashini Ali, The Hindu, May 31, 2002The National Commission of Women gives little importance to the most disturbing dimension of the Gujarat violence — the targeting of Muslim women and children.

Report Says Women Targeted during India's ViolenceBy Barbara Crossette, WEnews correspondent, Run Date: 05/27/02
A multi-ethnic delegation finds that rape and sexual violence against women are prevalent in the recent surges of unbridled violence between India's Muslims and Hindus.

The women in Gujarat's camps — IIBy Vasudha Dhagamwar, Opinion, The Hindu, May 23, 2002
The malaise in Gujarat is deep, very deep. It needs sensitivity, understanding and courage to cleanse it. Posturing is not going to do it.

The women in Gujarat's camps — IBy Vasudha Dhagamwar, Opinion, The Hindu, May 22, 2002
The perennially helpless condition of women, ever dependent on their men, was exacerbated several times over.

Once upon a time in GujaratAmrita Shah, The Indian Express, May 23, 2002
This is a story of a family. An ordinary story. An ordinary family. The
only reason I am telling it is because nearly three months after Gujarat
continues to bubble with news of sporadic violence, the attempted
cover-up of sexual crimes, social schisms and terrible conditions in
relief camps, this story gives some idea of the kind of lives these
events have disrupted.

‘They raped my friend, slashed her with sword’
Express News Service, May 19, 2002
Ahmedabad, May 18: On Wednesday, 10-year-old Anisha Kasambhai Mansoori of Naroda-Patiya gave a statement, based on which a case of murder and rape was registered by the Crime Branch.

Were sexual crimes in Gujarat planned?By Syed Ubaidur Rahman, The Mili Gazette
Ahmedabad: Women have been the main target of the rioters in Gujarat. After visiting the state for more than a week and meeting hundreds of people in different camps spread over the four most affected districts of the state including Panchmahal, (under which Godhra comes) Baroda, Anand and Ahmadabad, I have reached the conclusion that women were consciously and specially targeted by the rioters who were being controlled by the VHP and Bajrang Dal criminals besides the members of the RSS and the BJP.

Mumbai's women take up cudgels for Gujarat womenMumbai, By Pamela Raghunath, Gulf News Online Edition, 14-05-2002
Some 200 women culled from women's organisations and groups in Mumbai brought the unprecedented violence against Muslim women in Gujarat to the attention of Mumbaities with a one-day protest that drew attention to the plight of Gujarati women, like nothing else since the violence began.

Indian Women Demand Justice for Gujarat Rape VictimsKalyani, OneWorld South Asia, May 14
Thousands of women from across the Indian subcontinent took to the streets of major cities Monday to demand justice for women hit by religious rioting in the western state of Gujarat.

Women's groups observe Gujarat Protest DayThe Hindu, Mumbai, May 13
Several women's organisations and groups across the city today observed National Protest Day to highlight to unprecedented violence, particularly sexual violence committed against women in the communal carnage in Gujarat.

Organisations demand justice for women in GujaratMonday, May 13, 2002, NDTV Correspondent
Protestors from 12 women’s organisations tried to break through police barricades in the heart of the Capital, shouting slogans and courting arrest. They were out on the streets demanding justice for women in Gujarat, who were assaulted during the recent violence in the state.

Stories that must be told Violence against women in Gujarat, Ahmedabad, May 2002 (WFS)
It is very difficult for me to write this article. As a woman, as a Muslim woman, and as a citizen of this country, how shall I write so that the women who were brutalised in the Gujarat carnage can get justice?

A Hindu brother rescues Muslim sisterTimes News Network, May 09, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Mughal emperor Humayun gave a new meaning to communal brotherhood when he rushed to the rescue of his foster-sister Rani Padmavati. In Ahmedabad, it was the turn of advocate Dhanraj (not his real name) to reinforce that religious misgivings cannot come in way of honouring an assumed brother-sister relationship.

The Rape Of ReasonBarkha Dutt, Outlook, May 13, 2002
The sexual abuse of women has been so public, victims will talk to anyone who'll listen.

We strongly condemn Defence Minister George Fernandes for his outrageous and inhuman remarks during the debate on Gujarat in Parliament. He has set new records of political indecency by ridiculing the grotesque forms of violence that Muslim women and children have been subjected to in the communal carnage in Gujarat. It is perverted logic that justifies the present violence in Gujarat against women with comparisons of what occurred in the anti-Sikh riots in 1984.

Geetaben was killed in Ahmedabad on March 25, in broad daylight, near a bus stop close to her home. She was a Hindu who in the eyes of the Hindu separatists currently ruling Gujarat had committed the cardinal sin of falling in love with a Muslim man. When the Sangh Parivar mobs came for him, she stood her ground long enough for him to flee.